It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection. These are the times when maps fade, old landmarks crumble and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.

Personal sex is personal. Public policy is public. The two shouldn’t be mixed. Politicians should not be denied public office on the basis of their private sex lives.

Nonetheless, the National Enquirer says that it has evidence that Sarah Palin had an extramarital sexual affair recently. The publication says it’s going to release a big story about it all next week.

That’s titillating news, but hardly surprising. Todd Palin seems to almost always out of the home, on an oil rig or a fishing boat.

But really, it doesn’t matter. It might not even be true.

Sarah Palin is a bad vice presidential candidate because she is inexperienced, poorly educated, inconsistent, unethical, disrespectful of the Constitution, politically extremist and mentally unstable. We don’t need a Palin sex scandal to conclude that Sarah Palin should never be given a job in the White House.

If Sarah Palin is really getting some action on the side, that’s her business, and her husband’s business. It isn’t ours.

Irrelevent? I’m not so sure…her platform is based in her family values deep seated belief. You can bet she would be the first to point out the same flaw in an opponent. America knows NOTHING about her, so I guess I completely disagree with you. She is fair game at all levels. Her daughter should be off limits, but no one is recognizing WHY she came into play to begin with. Palin had her daughter removed from high school for 5 MONTHS stating that she had mono…so sorry, this totally raised red flags and made her the chum for sharks. Palin’s fault. And what does it say about her character? She obviously lied to friends, family and school. Did her physician also lie? Was there no “note” required for her long absence from school? If not, why preferential treatment? And if so, she involved a doctor to lie? OR, she herself lied to the school. However you look at it, she was willing to bend the truth for her own benefit. She also stated in her speech that she was the special needs family friend (para-phrasing), but didn’t state that she had reduced special education programs in Alaska by 62%!!! Not 5-10%…but 62%. This lady accused Obama of saying one thing here, and another thing there. She is exactly that person!

Kat, my point is that all the political issues RELATED to Sarah Palin’s archaic notions of family ought to be discussed – but whether she cheats on her husband or not is an issue for her and her husband.

The special needs 62% cut claim is not accurate. The budget for special needs kids was split into two separate programs, making it look like there was a cut if you only looked at the line in the budget for the one program. I don’t like Sarah Palin, but this claim about Palin is not true.

In Sarha’s case, it does matter. The issue is not a possible affair, but the potential hypocrisy. Palin like many right wing conservatives lays claim to the moral high ground. After all, she is a self declared, god fearing, pentecostal Christian. Therefore her having an affair reveals her to be a liar and and a hypocrite. Such a moral failing displays a lack of character and unsuitability to be trusted with public office. The impact and my concern would be much less if Mrs. Palin did not make so much noise about her character and superior morals.

I do think that she is moral hypocrite, without knowing whether Sarah Palin had a sexual affair with her husband’s business partner, as is alleged. But, moral failings aren’t what I base my vote on. I base my vote on public policy, which is what politicians really work with. I don’t expect politicians to be moral exemplars. I expect them to be capable of doing their jobs well.

Sarah Palin is incapable of doing her job well because, in part, she’s so obsessed with the morality of other people that she feels entitled to abuse power herself. There are many, many other things wrong with her, but I don’t use morality as among them.

Sarah Palin’s mental instability, however, is fair game. She claims to have the support of the creator of the cosmos for the details of her political agenda. That’s crazy, and much more serious than whether she has sex with men other than her husband.

Jim,
While I applaud your desire to keepop truth at hand, I believe that my statistics are aaccurate. Can you please post this “other column” that you are referring to? I am referring to the Alaska special schools/early education and development funding.
I am having a difficult time with this link, but even on the error page it offfers the alaska gov’t site and from there it is easy to navigate. Low right side click on budgets, then look at the difference between Murkowski (sp?) and Palin. A 62 percent defference. Please, Jim, link me to your info:)
Thanks

J Clifford,
I actually completely agree that private is private. But, this situation is unusual. America is having to discover VERY QUICKLY what kind of person she is. Unfortunately, when you are far right is speech and expectaions of others….you should hold yourself to the same measure or stop using it as your personal selling point. That is what palin may be up to. Hopefully the affair is false info, but if it is not, then she should be ashamed, more because she is two faced, and less because of the actual affair itself. Of course, this is just my opinion:)

You aren’t seeing the information in those pdfs because those pdfs ONLY look at the overall Special Education program, which in 2007 included the budget for the AK Challenge Youth Academy and in 2008 did not. In 2008, the AK Challenge Youth Academy got its own line in the budget, making it look like there was an overall budget.

Look at “special schools” and “AK Challenge Youth Academy” in 2008. Notice that “AK Challenge Youth Academy” doesn’t have its own line in 2007. As one of the pdfs you referred to notes, in 2007 the “AK Challenge Youth Academy” was part of the Special Schools component of the budget:

That’s not the point. The point is that in 2007 it WAS included in the special schools budget while in 2008 it WAS NOT, getting a separate line item in the budget. So if you don’t take that into account, it looks like a huge budget cut for special education. But it only looks that way. It isn’t actually that way. We should be concerned with what’s actual.

Jim,
I think you and I have a different idea of what special needs is. I am a mother to a special kid, and to me, that money should be for the challenges of children with a variety of special needs. And I can say without a doubt taht the Ak youth Academy is in no way for children with physical or medical handicaps. Maybe wayward youths from troubled backgrounds…but S. Palin looked directly into the camera when commenting to special needs families, and included herself in that with her new son, and stated that she was “with us”. (paraphrasing). So, yes this is personal to me, and I see monies removed from true special education programs to go o this one program in Anchorage, is a travesty. Families need/rely on what can be offered for our children anywhere close. These programs are few and far between for most people. And any military based education facillity would NOT encompass our needs.
And Jim, I hope this is a nice debate with you, and don’t see me as antagonistic. Thanks.

Again, it does not matter for the logic of your own argument what the AK Challenge Youth Academy does. Let’s just say it is actually a big trash compactor for skyscrapers for the sake of argument. The point would be that in 2007, what shows up in the budget as “Special Schools” is really special education PLUS the trash compactor. In 2008, the trash compactor gets a separate line, so now the money that went under the line of “Special Schools” goes to two lines: “Special Schools” and “Trash Compactor”. That means that the number in “Special Schools” will be lower, but it doesn’t mean that the amount spent on special education is any less.

Another way to put it: it’s like last year you had a folder where you put receipts for pencils and pens you bought. Then this year you had two folders, one for receipts for pencils you bought and one for receipts for pens you bought. You can’t just look at this year’s folder for pencil receipts, compare it to last year’s folder for pencil and pen receipts, note that last year’s folder was thicker, and then conclude that this year you made fewer purchases of pencils.

Let me put it yet another way. Look at the two pdfs I linked to a few comments above. They show the following figures (look in the right hand column, Governor’s budget):

I do not like Sarah Palin as a candidate for Vice President. You and I are in agreement on this. But I do not see any evidence of “monies removed from true special education programs.” Please show me which special education funds have been taken away from 2007 to 2008, Kat. I do not see evidence of any.

who cares what she did when she was growing up, we all have these type of fantasies, she lived one or two, she has a beautiful family, my only regret I am a male and it was not with me and her partner. a dream that would last past a lifetime. She is hot and above all smart

Dear GOD, sorry to disagree with you – but the Russians? Take another look at the globe my lord, China is rising – not Russia. Who do you think is loaning us all that money to fund our little “Iraqi expedition”?

Liberal Buttons, Political Bumper Stickers and Sweat-Free Shirts

To keep our voices independent of moneyed interests, the writers of Irregular Times have never accepted money for advertising on this website. But we still have to pay the bills! To help cover our expenses, we sell our own designs of liberal activist bumper stickers, buttons and sweatshop-free shirts.